I must have been to Portland as a child, but I don't remember it. Having grown up on the East Coast, I was lucky enough to have explored a lot of New England by car. I used to go to Marblehead, in Massachusetts, to catch crabs and other small animals by the tide pools. I used to take New England Clam Chowder for granted, but now that I moved away, I really miss how easy it was to get good chowder in Boston. I suppose I can probably find it in New York too if I try hard enough, and I have had it year, but something about being back in New England makes it all taste better. Perhaps it's the memory of childhood.
My friend rented a car from Delaware, picked up another friend in Philadelphia, and then picked up two of us in New York. The drive was not so bad, since we all packed snacks. We spent the night near Salem, a town that is famous for the witch trials. One of our friends is from Germany, and he remarked that witch trials are not so special, since they happened all over Europe too. Our other friend explained that in the US, it was not necessarily so widespread, though there were incidences, but there happened to be a lot during one time in Salem, hence the fame.
Today, Salem has a lot of fun, new age stores, as well as museums devoted to the Witch Trials. Also, there is a maritime museum too. It rained all day when we arrived though, so we just got brunch at a wonderful cafe called Gulu Gulu Cafe. It's probably one of the best brunches that I have had in a while. I got the classic banana nutella crepes, and my friend got yogurt and berry crepes. They also have a good selection of spiked coffee.
Had the weather been nicer, we would have stayed to walk around, but it poured, so we decided go ahead and drive to Portland.
"I have a special request," My German friend announced.
I was preparing to argue, since I had assumed that this request would pertain to the radio/car music, since we had previously agreed that each person gets one hour allocated to them to play their music.
"Can we please," he continued. "Please please stop when we are in New Hampshire so that I can get out of the car and take a picture just so I can tell my friends back home that I went to New Hampshire?"
Well that was easy. If anything, liquor is much cheaper in New Hampshire, especially at the State run liquor stores, so we had been planning to stop there anyhow to get things for our trip. He now has a nice photo of himself in front of one of these liquor stores to send back home.
Route 1 in California is gorgeous, but I didn't know that Route 1 on the East Coast is also gorgeous. We drove along that, and visited the most photographed lighthouse in Maine (according to the lady in the visitor's center). I wish I remembered her name, but she was so helpful, and really took time to give us instructions. We also drove by George W. Bush's summer home in Portland. There were a lot of black SUVs outside (I don't know if they were even there), and the flag was at half mast for Belgium.
We rented a nice house on airbnb. Coming from New York, of course I was thrilled at how much space we had. It was beautifully decorated, and very clean. That evening, we went to a small seafood shack, and of course I ordered lobster. Even when I lived in New England, I thought lobster and New England clam chowder were a big deal--now that I live away from New England, I am even more excited to have it.
On the Saturday, we went downtown to take the ferry to Peak's Island. Before that, we went to a gluten free bakery where I had one of the best cheesecakes that I have had in my life. It was like a cross between cheesecake and my favorite girl scout cookies, which were caramel delights (I think the new name is Samoas). It was still pretty cold in Portland, but at least the sun was out.
Peak's Island was a nice, short journey. I walked along the tidal pools, and collected some rocks and shells. It was a nice trip back in time, when I used to do this as a kid. I looked for crabs, and didn't find any. One of my friends accompanied me, to stare into the tidal pools.
"I don't think there is anything," he said.
"With most tide pools," I said, "If you look long enough, you will see something." And sure enough, there was a flash, and a small silvery little fish darted from one patch of sea grass to another.
When we took the ferry back, our German friend realized that he lost his sun glasses. A kind passenger on the ferry offered to post an ad for us on the local Peak's Island lost and found website. Sure enough (I'm writing this post late), a week or so later, someone had found the sunglasses on the beach! I found people in Portland to be really friendly.
Unfortunately, since I am writing this post late, I forgot the name of a lot of the places we went to. In any case, there is a really nice bar, kind of like a beer hall, that we went to. I tried to find tourmaline, which is the state mineral of Maine, and has a watermelon coloring to it, in the sense that some tourmaline have a pink center with a green outside. I didn't really see any that I liked, and a lot of the stores were closed since it was Easter Weekend.
We went to Duck Fat for dinner. It was okay. I had been hoping to have stellar poutine, like I had in Montreal. With a lot of specialty "local" foods, it doesn't seem like it's so hard to make, but it really is hard to find it outside of the location that is famous for it. Poutine is just fries with gravy and cheese curds, but I haven't had good poutine outside of Canada. It shouldn't be that hard. In any case, the poutine at Duck Fat was good, because poutine can never be bad, but it wasn't like that amazing fois gras poutine that I had in Montreal, or even the (also really good) cheap diner poutine that I had in Montreal. I used to not even like fries, but I've come to really appreciate poutine. On a similar note, I do think New England clam chowder is best in New England, but there are very decent versions elsewhere too.
On Sunday we hiked through a small forest area, and then made our way back on Route 1, where we stopped for lunch at a restaurant that I think is called Lobster Cove. I ordered the whole lobster. Again, this is something that is a no-brainer for New Englanders, but I am surprised at how difficult it is for some people to eat whole lobsters. On the other hand, I think other people (not New Englanders) are shocked at how I eat lobster. I kind of think that a real Bostonian is able to eat a whole lobster without using those metal shell crackers. Of course they make it a little bit easier, but if you are an experienced consumer of lobster, you probably have learned the weak points in the shell where you can break it with your hands and extract the meat. I suppose to the outsider, it does look like a savage process, with shells cracking and lobster juice spurting out. A bib is definitely necessary.
"Lobsters scream when they get steamed alive," my friend said.
"That's a lie," I replied. "It's just the sound of the air escaping their shells." I'm actually not certain that's the case, but I heard that somewhere.
We got back to New York late, around 8:30. It was a really nice trip, reminiscent of the road trips that I used to take a child.
My friend rented a car from Delaware, picked up another friend in Philadelphia, and then picked up two of us in New York. The drive was not so bad, since we all packed snacks. We spent the night near Salem, a town that is famous for the witch trials. One of our friends is from Germany, and he remarked that witch trials are not so special, since they happened all over Europe too. Our other friend explained that in the US, it was not necessarily so widespread, though there were incidences, but there happened to be a lot during one time in Salem, hence the fame.
Today, Salem has a lot of fun, new age stores, as well as museums devoted to the Witch Trials. Also, there is a maritime museum too. It rained all day when we arrived though, so we just got brunch at a wonderful cafe called Gulu Gulu Cafe. It's probably one of the best brunches that I have had in a while. I got the classic banana nutella crepes, and my friend got yogurt and berry crepes. They also have a good selection of spiked coffee.
Had the weather been nicer, we would have stayed to walk around, but it poured, so we decided go ahead and drive to Portland.
"I have a special request," My German friend announced.
I was preparing to argue, since I had assumed that this request would pertain to the radio/car music, since we had previously agreed that each person gets one hour allocated to them to play their music.
"Can we please," he continued. "Please please stop when we are in New Hampshire so that I can get out of the car and take a picture just so I can tell my friends back home that I went to New Hampshire?"
Well that was easy. If anything, liquor is much cheaper in New Hampshire, especially at the State run liquor stores, so we had been planning to stop there anyhow to get things for our trip. He now has a nice photo of himself in front of one of these liquor stores to send back home.
Route 1 in California is gorgeous, but I didn't know that Route 1 on the East Coast is also gorgeous. We drove along that, and visited the most photographed lighthouse in Maine (according to the lady in the visitor's center). I wish I remembered her name, but she was so helpful, and really took time to give us instructions. We also drove by George W. Bush's summer home in Portland. There were a lot of black SUVs outside (I don't know if they were even there), and the flag was at half mast for Belgium.
We rented a nice house on airbnb. Coming from New York, of course I was thrilled at how much space we had. It was beautifully decorated, and very clean. That evening, we went to a small seafood shack, and of course I ordered lobster. Even when I lived in New England, I thought lobster and New England clam chowder were a big deal--now that I live away from New England, I am even more excited to have it.
On the Saturday, we went downtown to take the ferry to Peak's Island. Before that, we went to a gluten free bakery where I had one of the best cheesecakes that I have had in my life. It was like a cross between cheesecake and my favorite girl scout cookies, which were caramel delights (I think the new name is Samoas). It was still pretty cold in Portland, but at least the sun was out.
Peak's Island was a nice, short journey. I walked along the tidal pools, and collected some rocks and shells. It was a nice trip back in time, when I used to do this as a kid. I looked for crabs, and didn't find any. One of my friends accompanied me, to stare into the tidal pools.
"I don't think there is anything," he said.
"With most tide pools," I said, "If you look long enough, you will see something." And sure enough, there was a flash, and a small silvery little fish darted from one patch of sea grass to another.
When we took the ferry back, our German friend realized that he lost his sun glasses. A kind passenger on the ferry offered to post an ad for us on the local Peak's Island lost and found website. Sure enough (I'm writing this post late), a week or so later, someone had found the sunglasses on the beach! I found people in Portland to be really friendly.
Unfortunately, since I am writing this post late, I forgot the name of a lot of the places we went to. In any case, there is a really nice bar, kind of like a beer hall, that we went to. I tried to find tourmaline, which is the state mineral of Maine, and has a watermelon coloring to it, in the sense that some tourmaline have a pink center with a green outside. I didn't really see any that I liked, and a lot of the stores were closed since it was Easter Weekend.
We went to Duck Fat for dinner. It was okay. I had been hoping to have stellar poutine, like I had in Montreal. With a lot of specialty "local" foods, it doesn't seem like it's so hard to make, but it really is hard to find it outside of the location that is famous for it. Poutine is just fries with gravy and cheese curds, but I haven't had good poutine outside of Canada. It shouldn't be that hard. In any case, the poutine at Duck Fat was good, because poutine can never be bad, but it wasn't like that amazing fois gras poutine that I had in Montreal, or even the (also really good) cheap diner poutine that I had in Montreal. I used to not even like fries, but I've come to really appreciate poutine. On a similar note, I do think New England clam chowder is best in New England, but there are very decent versions elsewhere too.
On Sunday we hiked through a small forest area, and then made our way back on Route 1, where we stopped for lunch at a restaurant that I think is called Lobster Cove. I ordered the whole lobster. Again, this is something that is a no-brainer for New Englanders, but I am surprised at how difficult it is for some people to eat whole lobsters. On the other hand, I think other people (not New Englanders) are shocked at how I eat lobster. I kind of think that a real Bostonian is able to eat a whole lobster without using those metal shell crackers. Of course they make it a little bit easier, but if you are an experienced consumer of lobster, you probably have learned the weak points in the shell where you can break it with your hands and extract the meat. I suppose to the outsider, it does look like a savage process, with shells cracking and lobster juice spurting out. A bib is definitely necessary.
"Lobsters scream when they get steamed alive," my friend said.
"That's a lie," I replied. "It's just the sound of the air escaping their shells." I'm actually not certain that's the case, but I heard that somewhere.
We got back to New York late, around 8:30. It was a really nice trip, reminiscent of the road trips that I used to take a child.
